Chautala’s allegations against Rahul Gandhi mischievous: Haryana govt

Chandigarh: Haryana government on Friday termed as "completely false, mischievous, motivated and malicious" allegations of the Leader of the Opposition Om Parkash Chautala of non-payment of appropriate stamp duty on purchase of land at Hassanpur village of Faridabad district.

A statement issued by the state government quoting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Surjewala as saying that that on March 3, 2009 Rahul Gandhi had purchased 6.456 acres of `Sailab` (wet land) land in village Hassanpur for a total purchase price of Rs 26,47,000/-, which works out to Rs 4,10,006/- per acre.

As per a letter dated July 13, 2007 issued by the then Collector, Collector rate for `Sailab` land was Rs 1.50 lakh per acre and this Collector rate continued to exist upto April 11,2008, the minister said.

Surjewala said Rahul Gandhi had paid stamp duty of 6 percent amounting to Rs 1,58,820/- on the purchase price of Rs 26,47,000/- at Rs 4,10,006/- per acre, which is over 2.7 times the prevailing Collector rate.

"Hence, the allegation made by Om Prakash Chautala about any underpayment of stamp duty is nothing but a bunch of irresponsible lies," he said.

He said since consolidation in 1974-75 till date, this land of Village Hassanpur has always been recorded as `Sailab` land.

During this entire period, many governments, including that of Om Prakash Chautala, had remained in power, Surjewala said adding that contrary to what Chautala is alleging, even in the registration deed, land is specifically defined as `Sailab` land based on the revenue record before the registering authority ie Tehsildar Hodel.

He said Chautala should apologise to Rahul Gandhi as also to people of Haryana "for his untrue statements."

Chautala had two days ago accused Rahul Gandhi of tax evasion in land purchase in a village in Palwal district, a charge rejected by him as "entirely false, utterly baseless and defamatory".

Surjewala said Chautala and both his sons are facing a case of assets disproportionate to known sources of their income as also in the case of fudging the entire recruitment process in recruitment of JBT teachers.